Dmitriy T.M. sent us a link to Jezebel’s analysis of the inclusion of models of color at New York fashion weeks. The post author, Jenna, begins:
…in the fall of 2007 that fully one-third of shows in New York had 100% white casts. Two years later, we calculated that 18% of spots in show lineups were booked by models of color — a real improvement in the representation of black, Latina, and Asian faces in the crucible where the beauty standard is forged.
This season, fashion took a step back.
…
Of 4,095 turns on the runway, only 662 went to models who weren’t white. That’s barely 16%.
More:
Most of the shows that took place used some models of color — just three designers, A Détacher, Alice + Olivia (full disclosure: an old client of mine), and Preen, chose exclusively white casts — but many used very few. Well over 60% of the shows, in fact, used casts that were 85% white, or more.
Most of the shows that took place used some models of color — just three designers, A Détacher, Alice + Olivia (full disclosure: an old client of mine), and Preen, chose exclusively white casts — but many used very few. Well over 60% of the shows, in fact, used casts that were 85% white, or more.
More details on the data, and the models, at Jezebel.
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Comments 31
Brooks — February 26, 2010
Hmmm. I wonder if this reflects the demographics of the target market for high fashion?
Rolton — February 26, 2010
The fact that whites are dominant is, of course, surprising. It's the near-zero presence of Hispanic models that's especially skewed. Also interesting to note that, at least relative to the *total* US population, Asians are over-represented. I don't know the breakdown of race and ethnicity at model age, though.
And it's not like fashion has an especially great history of incorporating women of color anyway, so just comparing population figures might not tell us much. Did high fashion in 2007 include more models of color in a way that actually respected racial and ethnic diversity? [Cue list of links to "exotic" images of women in advertising and fashion...]
Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist — February 26, 2010
some of the comments are really disgusting, racist, ignorant, and obnoxious. Some people are like, "quit whining. If a fashion show was held in Japan, would you be mad if all the models were Japanese and there were no white or black models?"
WTF.
I've never been to a fashion show in Japan, but I'm willing to f--king bet that it'd have plenty of white models, too. Unless I'm wrong, so feel free to correct me.
Per — February 26, 2010
By the way, to put the "sociological" in these images, I ran a chi-squared test, to determine whether it's reasonable to argue that the decline since last year is just chance -- "come on, you're trying to make hay out of a decline from eighteen percent of models to sixteen percent of models?"
I get a chi-squared value of 4.97, which gives a probability of 2.6% of this sort of discrepancy occurring by chance.
Lynzie — February 26, 2010
I wonder how much of this is institutionalized racism on the part of whoever was doing the hiring, of if it's on the part of potential models. For example, women of color are less likely to believe themselves beautiful because of racism (and sexism, but let's ignore that for now, for the sake of simplicity), and therefore are less likely to become models than white women. It's probably a combination of the two, but it's interesting to think about. Interesting and angering.
ketchup — February 26, 2010
And let us not forget that a significant number (if not the vast majority) of these haute couture designers who call the shots in the racist choice of models are either women or homosexual men. And to their racism we can add the toxic dominant standard for anorexic girls and the increasing use of 13-14 year olds as adult fashion models.
How nice to see this very nice example of how collectively grotesque homosexuals and women can be to women and girls on a blog that goes on and on about the evils of "patriarchy."
Those were the days when it was men vs. women.